Views about the CCP's "Golden Shield" - Public Protection or Repressing Freedom of Information? (Photos)

By Ouyang Fei

(Clearwisdom.net) China's Golden Shield Project is a vast, nationwide digital surveillance network. It blocks information from entering or leaving China and monitors the movement of information back and forth within China. Its goal is to give Chinese police agencies eyes and ears necessary to control the exchange of information on the Internet. The Golden Shield Project has been underway for a long time now, and has cost a tremendous amount of money to construct and maintain.

Many people know that CCP authorities block access to thousands of websites outside of China that are deemed "sensitive," however the degree of control actually extends far deeper. I just had some personal experiences with this that I'd like to share.

There is a website in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, called "China Harmonious Society Website." It looked like a website built for some CCP propaganda writers to promote the CCP slogan of a "Harmonious Society." The website did not contain any "sensitive" content. I clicked on an article about some historical personage. As soon as the content was displayed, a dialog box suddenly popped up, claiming "The information monitoring system has detected a prohibited phrase: 'Counter-revolutionary.'"

Has "Counter-revolutionary" become a prohibited phrase? Surprised, I thought that I would not be able to read the article and that was all. However, when I clicked "OK," to my surprise again, the web page was switched to the 110 website of Xi'an web-police, with the following content displayed:

Reminder from the web-police:
Sorry, because the content and information you have visited or submitted contains keywords prohibited by the surveillance department of the country, or your IP is restricted from visiting this website, your operation is invalid and the system has recorded your IP as well as the data you have submitted. Please note, do not submit any harmful content or information that violates the national specifications!

The prohibited keywords are:
Counter-revolutionary
If you have any questions, please contact your Internet service provider!

The window title in the upper left corner showed: "The information surveillance system is running--demonstrating 'the mighty power' of the Golden Shield Project!" At the lower right corner a button was marked "Enter:" "Xi'an network surveillance website."

I pressed "Xi'an network surveillance website" and arrived at the website of the Internet Security Monitoring Team of the Xi'an Police Department. This team is likely part of the "Public Information Network Security Surveillance Bureau" (PINSSB), officially established nationwide by the Ministry of Public Security in 1998. It has now spread to every public security system around the country.

Although it is not a secret that the CCP has installed a firewall and filters all Internet service providers, my personal experience made me further understand the danger faced by the people using the Internet in China, especially those who visit the websites with sensitive information. My IP has been recorded, which can be traced back to my identity. This is the precise function of the CCP's Golden Shield Project.

Some of my friends who were technically involved in implementing the Golden Shield Project in China believe that the Golden Shield Project is mainly for "police enforcement with technology" and to apply information technology to public security. They all emphasized that the PINSSB is only one of the many work units of the Golden Shield Project, and that the sites monitored are mainly pornography websites. Actually, this is merely self-deception. In China, pornography websites can be seen anywhere and the CCP basically indulges them. However, for communication related to democracy and human rights, the CCP is trying all it can do to exercise control and prevent people's access.

The purpose of the Golden Shield Project is to monitor and control the people.

Some people say that the Western countries also monitor the Internet, however, Internet monitoring in Western countries is curtailed by the rights of privacy, human rights, and the freedoms of speech and belief, which are protected by the law. This is very different from the Internet monitoring by the CCP.

According to the CCP, there are nine categories of website information being openly monitored, with obscene websites being only one of them. However, the CCP is not serious about monitoring the obscene websites because the CCP officials themselves are promiscuous. In addition, they are also trying to tempt people to indulge in lust and desire in order to divert their attention away from CCP tyranny.

I hope that the technical personnel who are involved in implementing the Golden Shield Project can understand that they are helping the CCP to deprive the people of the freedom of speech and the right to know, and they should stop helping the CCP keep people blind and deaf.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/21/164930.html

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